




































Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal 3 (1): 125–129, January 2020 

 
NOTES FROM THE FIELD  
 

Rising Drinking Water Insecurity in the Indian 
Himalayan Region of Sikkim: A multi-stakeholder 
perspective 
 

Barun  Kumar  Thakur, Kanish  Debnath, Vaishali  Dhingra   and  

Debi Prasad Bal  
 
1. DWINDLING WATER RESOURCES AND DAILY TRAVAILS 
IN ACCESSING FRESHWATER  

For the past 15 months, we are working on a project to assess drinking 
water security challenges in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) of Sikkim. 
One of our project‟s aim is to estimate the social and economic cost of 
drinking water scarcity in the rain shadow regions of the IHR.  For this 
purpose, we have been assessing the water availability and water quality in 
the district of South Sikkim. In the IHR‟s mountainous terrains, freshwater 
is mostly available from natural springs and lakes. However, human-
induced climate change impacts such as reduced snow-cover in the peaks, 
frequent landslides, and reducing vegetation cover are resulting in less water 
availability and drying up of many perennial springs and reservoirs (Wester 
et al. 2018).  

                                                           
 Department of Economics, FLAME University, Pune – 412115, India; 

barunsandilya@gmail.com  

 Department of Economics, FLAME University, Pune – 412115, India. 
Kanish.debnath@flame.edu.in 

 Department of Economics, FLAME University, Pune – 412115, India and Department 
of H&SS, NIT Sikkim, Ravangla-737139 vaishalidhingra89@gmail.com 

 Birla School of Social Sciences & Humanities, Birla Global University, Bhubneshwar-
751029, India Debiprasad.bal@gmail.com 

Copyright © Thakur, Debnath, Dhingra and Bal 2020. Released under Creative Commons 
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0) by the author.  

Published by Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE), c/o Institute of Economic 
Growth, University Enclave, North Campus, Delhi 110007.  

ISSN: 2581-6152 (print); 2581-6101 (web). 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v3i1.97  

https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v3i1.97


Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [126] 

Even though there is a broader recognition of the looming water crisis in 
many parts of Sikkim (Government of Sikkim 2016), the actual realisation 
of its impact among residents is very diverse. In South Sikkim, household 
access to drinking water can broadly be categorised into three types: (a) 
government-supplied piped water, (b) private arrangements for piped water, 
and (c) non-piped water supply or drawing water from the nearest water 
sources. The first category of households is mostly confined in the urban 
areas and near to village centre. The respondents reported high level of 
satisfaction with the current water supply system compared to the past. We 
observed that waterworks developed by the government (such as the 
construction of reservoir tanks, maintenance of pipelines) have eased access 
to water in these villages. However, some of the respondents felt that real, 
sustainable solutions will need to be implemented to avoid any water crisis 
in the future. The second category of households often makes their own 
arrangements by paying a village plumber a monthly payment. The source 
can be any nearby public water spring or public water tank.  The plumber 
maintains the pipelines and keeps a check on water availability. We 
observed this system working well. The members of the local government 
(panchayat) are aware of such arrangement of water supply. Interestingly, 
respondents too expressed a high level of satisfaction with the system and 
did not wish any government intervention. The final category of 
households made up those who had to trudge a distance of more than 100 
meters in steep terrain to get water for their everyday needs. In such 
households, often the responsibility of household water provision rests on 
the womenfolk, who make multiple trips to meet their household water 
needs. Surprisingly, many respondents from this category were positively 
satisfied (although on a lower level) with the water supply system. We 
observed that these places also acted as social gathering sites, where women 
brought their kids and engaged in their daily chores such as washing 
clothes.  

 

2. ELICITING FURTHER INSIGHTS FROM HOUSEHOLD 
SURVEYS  

There is a clear evidence of drying up of spring water sources and temporal 
and spatial variation in rain patterns (Tambe et al. 2012). However, in our 58 
interactions, people did not express major concerns for water shortages. As 
not many households experience water scarcity, a lack of concern for 
depleting water sources was a worrying observation because freshwater is 
also used for other purposes, predominantly agriculture. Major crops 
produced in the region are   cardamom, ginger, turmeric, potato, maize, and 
spices. Even though many households realise that the rains have become 



[127] Barun Kumar Thakur, Kanish Debnath, Vaishali Dhingra and Debi Prasad Bal 

erratic, and that they used spring water for irrigation, we noted, that as long 
as there was enough water in the main source point, households did not 
mind carrying it to the house, while doing little to conserve rain water . 
Only 2 out of 58 households surveyed had installed rainwater harvesting 
system to tackle water shortages. For all villages we visited, we did not find 
village-level initiatives that encouraged water conservation.  

In order to have a deeper understanding of water insecurity at the 
household level, we conducted 58 semi-structured face to face surveys. Our 
survey team typically included a male staff (local) and a female staff (non-
local) accompanied by a local village member if the need arose. Our survey 
team helped to ease language barriers and promoted confidence among 
people. In cases where we informed a local member of the Panchayat, it 
was easier to elicit more and accurate information. In many instances, 
female members of the households were particularly keen to answer our 
questions as they are often responsible for household water provision. One 
of the female respondents told us to ask the questions only to her. We can 
also attribute our ease of access to households to the better social indicators 
of the state. We had no instance of household refusal to take part in the 
survey.  

Households in rural areas were more forthcoming with their problems and 
even in suggesting potential solutions for water-related issues. They showed 
overwhelmingly greater participation and eagerness in the exercise. On the 
other hand, we observed households in urban areas expressed a suspicious 
or distrustful attitude towards the survey. One of the respondents 
remarked, „But the government does not value all this. They will keep it in a 
file somewhere and never look at it.‟ In another case, we were told that „it is 
better to make private tanks and tap water from the source rather than 
waiting for the government.‟  People also tend to overstate or understate 
the current situations depending on their expectations from the 
government. This has lead to incorrectness in the data in a few of the 
surveys. For example, we have often noted that people overstated the 
number of households depending on a particular water source, or 
understated the number of hours they have access to piped water supply. 
So, we had to confirm this information with Panchayat members. In many 
instances, we had to explain clearly that our survey team cannot change the 
state government policies.  

 

 

 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [128] 

3. WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR SAFE WATER  

During household surveys, water samples were collected on the spot and 
tested for physiochemical properties using field test kits. Testing and stating 
the results of the households‟ water quality not only improved their 
confidence, but also created awareness and benefits of clean drinking water. 
Post water testing exercise, households were more forthcoming with their 
queries on water issues. This indicated that transparency in discussing water 
issues was a win-win for both sides. It helped us to obtain a household‟s 
WTP for safe and regular drinking water. Households‟ valuation of clean 
and safe drinking water was captured in how much they are willing to pay to 
subscribe to such a service. Once again, there were huge variations among 
households depending on their income and gender. We found a negative 
relation between household WTP and income level. Lower-income 
households quoted a significantly higher WTP than higher-income 
households. A higher WTP among low-income households was 
understandable because those who live in remote villages will have a high 
socioeconomic cost of arranging water for themselves and are willing to 
spend a larger part of income for safe drinking water. We also found that 
the WTP for safe water was higher among the female respondents as the 
womenfolk are majorly responsible for arranging household water 
provision.  

 

We also interacted with the stakeholders in the government to learn more 
about the “Dhara Vikas” project for springs and springshed rejuvenation in 
West and South Sikkim (Government of Sikkim 2014). Some officials 
agreed that though there are major initiatives by the government involving a 
new cadre of para-hydro-geologists, the experience of people can be very 
diverse. They drew attention to significant challenges in tapping water 
resources at higher altitudes and the water quality at lower altitudes. Such 
situation coupled with growing variability and uncertainty of climatic 
conditions makes many communities vulnerable. Since clean water is now a 
valued asset, the government will have to play the lead role in nudging 
people towards innovative and sustainable technological solutions.  

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

This research was funded by the National Mission on Himalayan Studies 
(NMHS) under Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change 
(MoEF&CC). We are thankful to the various state governments, Panchayat 
officials, and the villagers for helping us in this fieldwork and research.  



[129] Barun Kumar Thakur, Kanish Debnath, Vaishali Dhingra and Debi Prasad Bal 

REFERENCES 

Government of Sikkim. 2018. State of Environment Report Sikkim 2016. Sikkim: 
ENVIS HUB. 

Rural Management and Development Department, Government of Sikkim. 2014. 
Dhara Vikas Handbook: A User Manual for Springshed Development to Revive Himalayan 
Springs. Gangtok: Government of Sikkim. 

Tambe, Sandeep, Ghanashyam Kharel, M. L. Arrawatia, Himanshu Kulkarni, 
Kaustubh Mahamuni, and Anil K. Ganeriwala. 2012. “Reviving dying springs: 
climate change adaptation experiments from the Sikkim Himalaya,” Mountain 
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https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92288-1

